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Food is not just a physical necessity but also a composite commodity. It is part of a communication system, a nonverbal medium for expression, and a marker of special events. Bringing together contributions from fourteen historians, anthropologists, sociologists, and literary critics, VolumeXXVIII of Studies in Contemporary Jewry presents various viewpoints on the subtle and intricate relations between Jews and their foodways. The ancient Jewish community ritualized and codified the sphere of food; by regulating specific and detailed culinary laws, Judaism extended and accentuatedfood's cultural meanings. Modern Jewry is no longer defined exclusively in religious terms, yet a decrease in the role of religion, including kashrut observance, does not necessarily entail any diminishment of the role of food. On the contrary, as shown by the essays in this volume, choices of foodtake on special importance when Jewish individuals and communities face the challenges of modernity.Following an introduction by Sidney Mintz and concluding with an overview by Richard Wilk, the symposium essays lead the reader from the 20th century to the 21st, across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and North America. Through periods of war and peace, voluntary immigrations and forceddeportations, want and abundance, contemporary Jews use food both for demarcating new borders in rapidly changing circumstances and for remembering a diverse heritage. Despite a tendency in traditional Jewish studies to focus on "high" culture and to marginalize "low" culture, Jews and Their Foodways demonstrates how an examination of people's eating habits helps to explain human life and its diversity through no less than the study of great events, the deeds offamous people, and the writings of distinguished rabbis.

About The Author

Anat Helman is Associate Professor in the Department of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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Table of Contents

SymposiumJews and Their FoodwaysSidney Mintz: IntroductionAnna Shternshis: Salo on Challah: Soviet Jews' Experience of Food in the 1920s-1950sHagit Lavsky: In the Wake of Starvation: Jewish Displaced Persons and Food in Post-Holocaust GermanyOfra Tene: "The New Immigrant Must Not Only Learn, He Must Also Forget": The Making of Eretz Israeli Ashkenazi CuisineOrit Rozin: Craving Meat during Israel's Austerity Period, 1947-1953Esther Meir-Glitzenstein: Longing for the Aromas of Baghdad: Food, Emigration, and Transformation in the Lives of Iraqi Jews in Israel in the 1950sHagar Salamon: Cutting into the Flesh of the Community: Ritual Slaughter, Meat Consumption, and the Transition from Ethiopia to IsraelLiora Gvion: Two Narratives of Israeli Food: "Jewish" versus "Ethnic"Nir Avieli: Size Matters: Israeli Chefs Cooking Up a NationPaulette Kershenovich Schuster: A Tapestry of Tastes: Jewish Women of Syrian Descent and Their Cooking in Mexico and IsraelShaul Stampfer: Bagel and Falafel: Two Iconic Jewish Foods and One Modern Jewish IdentityAndrea Most: The Contemporary Jewish Food Movement in North America: A Report from the Field(s)Sander L. Gilman: Jews and Fat: Thoughts toward a History of an Image in the Second Age of BiologyRichard Wilk: Paradoxes of Jews and Their FoodsReview EssaysKim Wnschmann: Exploring the Universe of Camps and Ghettos: Classifications and Interpretations of the Nazi Topography of TerrorAmir Banbaji: The Literary Character of the HaskalahBook ReviewsAntisemitism, Holocaust, and GenocideEvan Burr Bukey: Jews and Intermarriage in Nazi Austria, Barbara F. OkunGeoffrey P. Megargee: The United States Holocaust Memorial MuseumKim Wnschmann: Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933-1945, vol. 1, Early Camps, Youth Camps, and Concentration Camps and Subcamps under the SS-Business and Administration Main Office (WVHA)Dan Michman: The Emergence of Jewish Ghettos during the Holocaust, trans. Lenn J. Schramm, Kim WnschmannGuy Miron and Shlomit Shulhani: The Yad Vashem Encyclopedia of the Ghettos during the Holocaust, Kim WnschmannBiography, History, and the Social SciencesPierre Birnbaum: La Republique et le cochon, David WeinbergYossi Goldstein: Golda: biografiyah, Matthew SilverSebastian Hoepfner: ewish Organizations in Transatlantic Perspective: Patterns of Contemporary Jewish Politics in Germany and the United States, Tobias BrinkmannAlice Kessler-Harris: A Difficult Woman: The Challenging Life and Times of Lillian Hellman, Nancy SinkoffGuy Miron: The Waning of Emancipation: Jewish History, Memory and the Rise of Fascism in Germany, France and Hungary, Pierre BirnbaumStephen Sharot: Comparative Perspectives on Judaisms and Jewish Identities, Eliezer Ben-RafaelAzriel Shohet: The Jews of Pinsk, 1881 to 1941, ed. Mark Jay Mirsky and Moshe Rosman; trans. Faigie Tropper and Moshe Rosman, Antony PolonskyGerald Sorin: Howard Fast: Life and Literature in the Left Lane, Stephen J. WhitfieldScott ury: Barricades and Banners: The Revolution of 1905 and the Transformation of Warsaw Jewry, Brian HorowitzKalman Weiser: Jewish People, Yiddish Nation: Noah Prylucki and the Folkists in Poland, Gali Drucker Bar-AmReligion, Thought, and CultureNathan Abrams: The New Jew in Film: Exploring Jewishness and Judaism in Contemporary Cinema, Aharon FeuersteinHamutal Bar-Yosef: Mysticism in Twentieth Century Hebrew Literature, Galili ShaharAliza Cohen-Mushlin: Synagogues in Lithuania: A Catalogue, Sharman KadishDavid Ellenson and Daniel Gordis: Pledges of Jewish Allegiance: Conversion, Law, and Policymaking in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Orthodox Responsa, Shmuel ShiloSharman Kadish: The Synagogues of Britain and Ireland: An Architectural and Social History, Vladimir LevinOlga Litvak: Haskalah: The Romantic Movement in Judaism, Amir BanbajiZionism, Israel, and the Middle EastYoel Cohen: God, Jews and the Media: Religion and Israel's Media, Kimmy CaplanBeverly Mizrachi: Paths to Middle-Class Mobility among Second-Generation Moroccan Immigrant Women in Israel, Henriette Dahan KalevAnita Shapira: Israel: A History, Gideon ShimoniAri Shavit: My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel, Gideon ShimoniContents for Volume XXIXNote on Editorial Policy